Day 10 (4/4/23): Houston to New Albany

 Laura’s Post. Biked 45 miles.

Wonderful morning today, waking up at Daisy’s on the Square, run by Mike and Carol. Incredible hospitality and a beautiful renovated little hotel. 

Of course Peter couldn’t wait until Mike opened up the downstairs community coffee house hub, aptly named “Gather,” and so had to wander to McDonald’s when it opened at 5 AM to get his fix. (He was apparently the first person who had ordered a latte there in a while …) 

We sat there for at more than an hour with cup after cup of coffee and good local conversation. Best breakfast we’ve had on the road. Finally time to saddle up for our last day of biking. Our final stretch was on 40 miles of paved Tanglefoot rail trail from Houston to New Albany, cruising through old industrial areas, small farm towns and pasture land.

We changed our first and only flat tire today. Well, let’s call it what it was, I assisted the expert Peter in changing my flat tire. We saw (and nearly ran over) 4 separate species of snake, turns out there are a LOT of snakes in Mississippi. Of course the one we benevolently stopped to try and sweep off the trail with a stick kept striking at us. Turns out that little dickhead was a Cottonmouth, one of Mississippi’s venomous snakes. Whoopsie. Joe says that rules out a move to Mississippi for us. (Big snake lover that guy). 

We ended our day with a moment of reverence. Today is 4/4/23. On this day 55 years ago, at 6:01 PM, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, TN. We are headed up there tomorrow, but we were able to participate virtually in some of the incredible speeches and music that were happening at that location today. You can check them out on the National Civil Rights Museum website. 

Peace until tomorrow. Two more days of our adventure.